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Kaa
Kaa is an enormous snake and the secondary antagonist in Disney's 1967 animated feature film, The Jungle Book. Background Development In Kipling's books, Kaa was considered a mentor to Mowgli, akin to Baloo and Bagheera. When the characters were adapted in the film, Kaa's role was changed to a dangerous villain. This was most likely due to the developers' belief that the public of the time would not accept a snake as a heroic character. He was animated by Frank Thomas in his entrance appearance where he first met Mowgli and nearly ate him. Later in the film, he was animated by Milt Kahl whose design for Kaa may be more iconic, being that his scene was longer and included his trademark song and Shere Khan's talk with the snake. Kaa also has a slight Wile E. Coyote-like facial expression. Personality : “''It's like you said... You can't trust anyone!” : ―Kaa to Mowgli Kaa is a sly, devious Indian python that speaks with a soft, often entrancing tone to either lure his victims into a weary, dreamlike state or manipulate them into bestowing their trust, thus allowing him to devour them unexpectedly. He furthers this by the use of his iconic ability to hypnotize his prey with his eyes, rendering them enchanted and under his command. A powerful and dangerous ability, Kaa is a feared member of the jungle, as evidenced by his interaction with the often composed and fearless Bagheera. Such fear, however, does not resonate with the unofficial ruler of the jungle, Shere Khan the tiger. Kaa holds a disliking for Khan, believing the act of killing for pleasure—as opposed to survival—to be dishonorable. The two beasts are often at odds, though Shere Khan views Kaa as an "eyes and ears" of the jungle, relying on him to assist his quest in finding Mowgli at one point in the film. While not as cruel and bloodthirsty as Shere Khan, Kaa is still a fairly villainous character. His first attempt to devour Mowgli was a casual means to eat and survive, but over time, his goal to eat the man-cub was mainly driven out of spite, evidenced by his lines "Just you wait 'till I get you in my coils!" Furthermore, he is perfectly willing to kill those who get in the way of his meals, as seen when he sadistically hypnotized, and almost caused harm to Bagheera. Though dangerous and cunning, Kaa is not without his faults, as he can be clumsy and easily sidetracked from his primary objective: to hypnotize and eat Mowgli. This results in his interactions with the man-cub to often end in humiliation to some degree. Trivia * In the original book by Rudyard Kipling, Kaa was one of Mowgli's friends and his wisest mentor. Throughout the book, Kaa was quite loyal to Mowgli and very protective towards him, but in the film and following appearances, Kaa is very dangerous threat to Mowgli's life. ** The reason Kaa is an antagonist is because Walt Disney found it hard to believe that a snake would be well received as a protagonist. ** Ironically, Kaa has proven to be one of the movie's most popular characters and one of Disney's most recognizable villains. ** Interestingly enough, the incarnation of the character in ''Jungle Cubs is by far the most accurate depiction of said character when compared to the original novels. * Despite popular belief, Kaa is not a henchman to Shere Khan, being the fact that he does none of his evil biddings and the two appear to dislike each other. In fact, Kaa even sympathizes with Mowgli for a moment after he finds out Shere Khan intends to kill him for immoral purposes (while Kaa does technically have the right to eat Mowgli, since he is just a simple predator who wants food). * In the books, Kaa and Mowgli have a deeper relationship. Initially, Kaa cared nothing about Mowgli and only saved him from the bandar-log because Bagheera lied to him that they insulted the python. However, once he meets Mowgli for the first time, the latter shows his gratitude for saving him. Kaa is surprised by his fearless attitude and begins to respect him for that. Later on, Kaa and Mowgli develop a brother-like relationship. * Originally, Kaa was not going to be a villain in the 1967 animated film. Wolfgang Reitherman suggested that they should give that role to Tabaqui (Shere Khan's henchman from the books). However, Walt Disney turned down that idea as he wanted to refrain from using canine villains so shortly after releasing The Sword in the Stone. * The scene where Kaa coils around Mowgli and pulls him up to his tree is reminiscent of a moment in the books, where Kaa traps Mowgli in his coils after mistaking him for a prey and pulls him closer (though he releases him once he realized his error). * In the books and movies, Kaa is depicted as being an Indian Rock Python (Python molurus), a species that usually grows to 3 meters (9.8 feet). Kaa, however, is closer to 9 meters (30 feet long), much larger than normal for his/her species. The only snakes capable of reaching such sizes, in reality, are Green Anacondas and Reticulated Pythons, both of which can grow to such lengths and weigh from 200-500 lb. * In the book, Kaa was able to hypnotize via dancing. Whereas in the Disney films, he does so via colorful spirals in his eyes. But in the book, humans are immune to Kaa's hypnosis while in the films his hypnotic powers appear to work on anyone who looks directly into his eyes. In the 2016 film, Kaa's hypnosis via color-changing patterns in her eyes remains and is further augmented with undefined psychic powers, as Kaa is able to show Mowgli a vision of the man cub's past. * Kaa means "possession" in Hindi. * Kaa is the second character who was originally voiced by Sterling Holloway and later taken over by Jim Cummings, the first being Winnie the Pooh. * Although Kaa is colored golden yellow in the original film and all of his other animated appearances, in The Jungle Book 2, however, he was a shade of green. * Kaa was seen in concept art for the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom over at Walt Disney World, but did not appear in the finished project. * During one of the attempts at the classic musical number "The Bare Necessities" from the second film, two prickly pears land on Kaa's head and one tiny pear on his nose, making him look like Mickey Mouse. This could possibly be an example of a Hidden Mickey. * Sir Hiss of the 1973 Robin Hood ''film is heavily based on (and is often confused for) Kaa, being both the same kind of head design and having the same hypnotic powers. * Though Kaa was not one of the ringleader villains in ''Mickey's House of Villains, he is featured on the cover of the DVD and VHS. However, he does assist in kicking Mickey and Minnie out of the club. * Kaa is the only Disney villain voiced by Sterling Holloway. The other Disney characters Holloway voiced were protagonists (or anti-heroes, as with the Cheshire Cat). * Even though Kaa wants to eat Mowgli in the films, real life pythons do not usually view humans as a part of their food chain or prey in any way and usually do not attack humans unless threatened or provoked. Moreover, real Indian Rock Pythons are too small to eat a human; only the closely related Reticulated Python, African Rock Python, and the Green Anaconda are known to have tried to eat humans. * In the second level of the Little Einsteins online game "Quincy and the Magic Instruments", the saxophone changes into a snake resembling Kaa while the band plays. * The decision to make Kaa a female in the 2016 film was due to the need for gender diversity within the primarily male-driven cast of the 1967 animated film. * Kaa became the minor villain in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of The Jungle Book. * Kaa appears in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventure Series to get revenge on Thomas, Twilight Sparkle and their friends for foiling his plans to eat Mowgli, tries to eat them and reluctantly join forces with Shere Khan despite their dislike. * Despite being the secondary antagonist, Kaa is the only Jungle Book villain to have a villain song, Trust In Me. 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